Managing projects front-end: Incorporating a strategic early view to project management with simulation

The article introduces a project management approach, which focuses on adopting a strategic view in the project implementation process. Such strategic view means that a consideration on the purpose of the project as a whole must be maintained in the course of project implementation. This includes adopting and maintaining the focus on the functionality and operability features of the project product. The functionality simulation approach itself is well known, e.g. in system engineering design. This article puts discrete event simulation in place in the project implementation process by suggesting that it can help to introduce new insights to conventional project scope management practices. Four simulation cases are presented to illustrate empirically how the management focus is cast in a strategic way to the functionality and operability of the project product. The cases provide understanding of the use of such simulation approach in the course of the project implementation process. The suggested simulation of the functionality of the project product introduces a directing view to project scope management, and this way it provides directions for operative tools that are designed for putting the component parts of the project together.